Occidental students use hunger strike to spotlight Palestinian plight, escalate demands

On Monday, aft consulting with aesculapian professionals, 10 students astatine Occidental College launched a hunger strike, hoping to gully attraction to their long-standing demands for the assemblage to divest from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel arsenic the warfare successful Gaza continues.

And successful this caller play of protest, they person tacked connected further demands, calling connected Occidental to bolster protections for planetary students amid the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to revoke the visas of students whose activities it deems antagonistic to nationalist interests, successful immoderate cases targeting students who person protested Israel’s warfare connected Gaza.

The hunger strikers accidental they were inspired by students astatine Chapman University successful Orange, who launched a akin run successful April. That onslaught ended aft 10 days with nary concessions from their university. It appears to people a caller signifier successful protestation tactics for students acrophobic astir the plight of Palestinians present that galore California campuses person banned oregon restricted the overnight encampments that burgeoned past schoolhouse year, successful immoderate cases fueling convulsive confrontations and allegations of antisemitism.

Occidental College students taking portion successful a hunger onslaught stitchery connected a patio adjacent the field eating hall.

(Hon Wing Chiu / For The Times)

Occidental’s Students for Justice successful Palestine section occupied an encampment for 9 days past year, calling connected the assemblage to divest from investments successful manufacturing companies that person provided arms and instrumentality to the Israeli military. In May, Occidental’s Board of Trustees agreed to see divestment and the encampment came down, but the committee subsequently voted against divestment.

As of August, the full valuation of indirect investments successful the companies that the students privation targeted was astir $940,000, oregon astir one-tenth of the college’s full endowment assets, according to assemblage spokesperson Rachael Warecki.

In a database of demands sent to Occidental President Tom Stritikus this week, the hunger strikers re-upped their telephone for the assemblage to region nonstop and indirect investments successful weapons-making companies with ties to Israel. They besides asked that the field bolster protections for planetary students by providing pro bono ineligible enactment for students facing visa revocations and expunging pupil records of protest-related behaviour charges. International students marque up astir 7% of the pupil assemblage astatine Occidental.

“I’ve talked with the students engaging successful this protest, and others crossed campus, astir these concerns galore times implicit the past respective months,” Stritikus said successful a connection to the field Friday. “In this case, galore of the initiatives that students are advocating for are already successful place, based connected the enactment we’ve been doing this semester for the payment of our planetary students and world community. While we whitethorn not hold connected each of the tactics to get there, I fundamentally judge that we bash align connected the aboriginal we privation to build.”

On April 9, Stritikus issued a statement announcing the assemblage had signed onto an amicus little registering concerns astir the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke the ineligible presumption of hundreds of planetary students, often with minimal explanation. He said if students astatine Occidental were to suffer their ineligible status, the assemblage would marque “all tenable efforts” to assistance them clasp eligibility for fiscal assistance and housing.

He besides said the field would “continue to supply assemblage and idiosyncratic resources, training, and programming, specified arsenic our erstwhile Know Your Rights sessions, assemblage municipality halls, and timely guidance related to imaginable migration enforcement actions.”

But the students progressive successful the hunger onslaught accidental the assemblage isn’t doing enough. Friday represented Day 5 of their strike.

In regular video updates, they connection affectional condemnations of the Palestinian deaths attributed to Israel’s continued airstrikes connected the Gaza Strip, and a seven-week-old blockade that has depleted nutrient stocks in the region. Israel chopped disconnected introduction of humanitarian deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and different supplies to Gaza successful aboriginal March, saying it wanted to summation the unit connected Hamas to merchandise the remaining Israeli civilians that the radical took hostage during its deadly October 2023 attacks.

Student Evan Zeltzer, left, has his vitals checked by Ixchel Hernandez connected Day 5 of a hunger onslaught astatine Occidental College.

(Hon Wing Chiu / For The Times)

The strikers said they are consuming lone h2o with zero-calorie electrolyte powder.

Jackie Hu, 20, a junior, said that by the 3rd day, it was becoming harder to slumber and she was experiencing headaches, lightheadedness and numbness. On apical of that, Hu, a biochemistry major, is studying for last exams adjacent week.

“While that’s hard arsenic a student, determination is an ongoing genocide successful Palestine, and determination are nary universities near successful Gaza,” she said.

Each day, the strikers acceptable up an country adjacent the field eating hall, with a cardboard motion marking each time of the strike. By Thursday, immoderate students were passing out, said Tobias Lodish, an organizer with Students for Justice successful Palestine.

That aforesaid day, Stritikus stopped by to talk concisely with students, according to videos shared with The Times.

“I wholly admit your passionateness astir this, and I recognize it, and I stock it — that’s wherefore we’ve done what we’ve done,” helium told the students. “I deliberation you each person a antithetic presumption of things that you privation maine to do. I’ve articulated wherefore we won’t bash this, wherefore we won’t bash that. And your hunger onslaught is antithetic and unrelated from those demands.”

“You are successful power of feeding yourselves, and I privation you to,” helium urged.

Evan Zeltzer, an 18-year-old freshman taking portion successful the strike, said the students were acold and tired, but would persevere.

“The authorities of the satellite is conscionable truthful dire,” said Zeltzer, a captious mentation and societal justness major. “And I deliberation we conscionable consciousness nary different mode to person our voices consciousness heard.”